I swear, weekly meme trends are the only thing keeping me semi-sane lately. Like, no lie. You know when you’ve had one of those weeks where you spill iced coffee on your shirt before you even leave the house, and then the train decides to stop in the tunnel for fifteen minutes? That was me on Tuesday. But then I opened Instagram and saw a dumb meme about “me pretending I didn’t just spend $200 at Target when I came for toothpaste” and I laughed out loud—on the train, in front of strangers.
People looked. I didn’t care.
That’s the thing about memes. They’re like little therapy sessions but free and sometimes stupid enough that you wonder if the entire internet is just one giant inside joke that nobody explained to you—but somehow you still get it.
The Weekly Cycle of Chaos
Here’s the wild thing: memes have this weekly refresh rate. Like fruit at the grocery store. Fresh on Sunday night, rotten by Thursday.
Monday morning: New meme template drops (probably from TikTok, let’s be honest).
By Wednesday: Everyone’s cousin’s dog’s Instagram has used it.
By Friday: If you post it, you’re basically that person still quoting “Shrek” in 2025. (Okay fine, I still do that too. “Somebody once told me…”—you know the rest.)
Example: The “NPC Energy” Week
I’ll never forget the week where suddenly everyone was accusing each other of having “NPC energy.” I was scrolling through Twitter—sorry, X, I still can’t say that with a straight face—and someone posted a picture of a guy holding a Chipotle bag like he was carrying the Olympic torch with the caption: “Main character energy. Everyone else = NPCs.”
I lost it. Like, crying-laughing lost it. And then two days later, I’m in Target (buying toothpaste—don’t judge) and I catch myself walking down the aisle like I’m literally an NPC programmed to buy dish soap.
It’s always like that. Memes go from funny to haunting your actual life in about 48 hours.
Queens + Memes = My Life
Living in Queens, memes feel extra real because you see half of them play out in real time. Like the “MTA delayed again” memes? Not a joke. That’s my commute.
Picture this: me, sitting on the 7 train, headphones in, and the conductor comes on like, “We are delayed due to train traffic ahead of us.” (Bro, what traffic? We’re underground.)
Cue me scrolling through Reddit and finding a meme of SpongeBob waiting at the Krusty Krab with the caption: “Me waiting for the train conductor to tell me we’re moving again.” Too accurate. Too real.
Weekly Meme Trends You Probably Saw (But Let’s Laugh Again Anyway)
Here’s a messy rundown of some that hit recently and totally derailed my week:
- The “Little Treat” Trend
- Every adult I know suddenly admitting we’re only surviving by bribing ourselves with iced coffee and pastries. Relatable doesn’t even cover it.
- “This Meeting Could’ve Been an Email” 3.0
- The memes evolved. Now it’s not just about work meetings—it’s group chats too. Like, why did I just get 47 messages for “lol ok”?
- Cats With Jobs
- There was a solid week where memes of cats behind cash registers or wearing hard hats were trending. I was late-night scrolling, saw a tabby “working construction,” and actually whispered “same” out loud.
- AI-generated cursed memes
- Don’t even get me started. One looked like Ronald McDonald at Coachella and I couldn’t sleep.
Why Weekly Meme Trends Work (Even When They’re Dumb)
I think memes work because they make you feel like you’re not losing your mind alone. Like when your boss sends you an email at 11:58 pm and you see a meme about “corporate overlords monitoring your sleep schedule”—it hits different.
Also, memes let you laugh at things you can’t fix. Rent too high? Meme it. Weather unpredictable? Meme it. Accidentally liking a photo from 2014 while stalking your ex’s Instagram? Oh, you bet someone memed it.
My Personal Meme Fails
Confession: I tried to make a meme once. Just once. I thought it was genius—used the “Distracted Boyfriend” template but swapped the faces with my roommates. I posted it in our group chat, all proud, expecting applause.
Crickets.
Then one of them said, “This… doesn’t even make sense.”
I retired from meme-making that day. I’m now a proud meme consumer only. Some of us are audience members, not performers, and that’s okay.
What’s Coming Next Week?
That’s the thing—you never know. By the time I finish writing this, there’s probably already a new one floating around. Some blurry photo of a raccoon with a latte or whatever.
But that’s the fun part. You’re constantly in on this chaotic group project called “meme culture,” except nobody asked to join and everyone’s failing—but somehow it’s still hilarious.
So… Why Am I Even Writing This?
Honestly? Because I needed to. Because this week’s been a mess, and writing about weekly meme trends feels like documenting our collective therapy. Like, one day when aliens dig up our servers, I hope they find the meme of a pug in a hoodie eating a burrito and think, “Yeah, humans had it rough, but at least they laughed.”
And maybe that’s enough.
Quick Outbound Link Suggestions
- A roundup of funny meme explainers on Know Your Meme
- A chaotic but relatable personal blog about internet culture: Reductress
